Lars Nystedt

Acceptability of a nonsurgical method to terminate very early pregnancy in comparison to vacuum aspiration

Seventy-seven patients applying for abortion during early pregnancy consented to be treated by prostaglandin vaginal suppositories or vacuum aspiration by Kahrman catheter in a random design. They also consented to participate in an acceptability study of the two procedures. Attitude and preference measures were obtained by interviewing and rating scales on three occasions: before assignment to abortion procedure, immediately after treatment, and two weeks later. The first 30 patients with complete abortion by either procedure participated in the acceptability study. Both treatments were positively evaluated but perceived to have very different characteristics. The preference for the method used for own treatment increased in both groups. Before treatment 1/3 of the patients in each group had a positive attitude to a self-administered method to induce abortion outside clinics. This proportion increased significantly after treatment but only in the group that received prostaglandin by the vaginal route.

Discriminant validation of measures of organizations commitment, job involvement, and job satisfaction among Swedish army officers

The discriminant validity of measures of job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment was tested with data from 467 army officers in Sweden. Confirmatory-factor analysis showed a close fit between the proposed three-factor model and the data. Further, six of eleven job and health correlates related differently to the three attitude vairables. The results indicate that job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment represent three empirically distinct constructs. Implications for future research discussed.

Who should rule? Does personality matter?

The study of leadership and personality has a long and controversial history. A review of trends and empirical research on relations between personality characteristics and leadership is presented. It is concluded that fragmentation and a narrow focus have been characteristic of most empirical research on leadership personality. The total space encompassing leadership issues has been compartmentalized into subareas such as leader traits, behaviour styles, and the situational view. It is argued that leadership is a multifaceted phenomenon that cannot be captured by focusing on a small number of variables. A holistic approach attempting to cover a range of traits so as to discern more complex trait patterns in relation to kinds of leader behaviour in different organizational settings is needed to gain an in‐depth insight into the complexity of leader behaviour and leader effectiveness. Fragmentation of individual functioning needs to be reduced. Research should also focus on the dynamics of the relationship between leader characteristics and leader behaviour in different social settings.

Self-schemata: Ambiguous operationalizations of an important concept

The study addresses the question of the psychometric properties of Importance ratings as a measure of self‐schemata and compares it with Trait Level measures using a somewhat different methodology from that of Burke, Kraut and Dworkin (1984). Subjects rated themselves on each of ten trait scales and also rated the personal significance of each trait. Furthermore, subjects were asked to rank order acts with regard to how representative they would be for their own behaviour in particular situations. The experiment was repeated after 2 weeks. Conclusions similar to those of Burke et al. (1984) were reached. Evidence for the discriminant validity of Importance ratings as measures of self‐schemata was weak. Furthermore, Trait Level measures predicted schema‐related behaviour better than Importance ratings. Future directions in research on self‐schemata are discussed in the light of these findings.

On the mathematics of tracer kinetics when pools are not in steady-state.

Abstract A method is described by which data from a tracer kinetic experiment can be adjusted to compensate for the error that arises when the steady-state of the pool sizes is disturbed by the amount of labelled compound injected.

A MODIFIED LENS MODEL: A STUDY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE ECOLOGY

A modification of Brunswiks lens model is discussed. The modification consists mainly of an attempt to construct, within the lens model, a multidimensional model for the study of the cognitive organization of the individual. The modified lens model contains four subsystems. These have been designated: input-generating system, perceptual-cognitive system, utilization system, and instrumental response system. Interactions between these systems are discussed. Research paradigms are presented, which can be used for the study of interactions between the systems.

SOME CONDITIONS AFFECTING THE UTILITY OF SUBJECTIVELY WEIGHTED MODELS IN DECISION MAKING

The accuracy of multiple regression models, models employing subjective weights and models employing relative subjective weights in reproducing judgments was studied. Multiple regression models were most accurate. When subjects were divided into two groups according to the degree of configurality shown in their matrix of subjective weights, striking differences were found in the degree of overlap of the multiple regression models and the models employing subjective weights. In particular, when subjective policies were essentially linear, the predicted judgments produced by these policies were highly correlated with the predicted judgments of the multiple regression models. When subjective policies were highly configural, the subjective models accounted for variance in judgments not accounted for by the linear multiple regression model.

ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EUCLIDEAN REPRESENTATION OF IMPLICIT PERSONALITY THEORY

On the psychological significance of the Euclidean representation of implicit personality theory. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 38, 15-20.

The influence of alcohol on cognitive conflict.

The influence of alcohol on cognitive conflict between individuals was studied by means of an experiment that was designed to be representative of real life negotiating situations, where alcohol is consumed and where two parties are required to find new common solutions to problems that they have previously learned to solve differently by themselves. The subjects were 60 male students of technology divided into experimental and control groups. The amount of alcohol (whisky) consumed by the experimental subjects produced approximately 0.08% blood alcohol concentration. In the experiment, the cognitive conflict situation was created by first training subjects to solve diagnostic medical tasks individually and then bringing two differently trained subjects together to find common solutions to similar diagnostic problems. The results showed that small amounts of alcohol do not influence cognitive behavior in a social situation where an individual has to find new solutions to problems that he has originally learned to solve in a certain way by himself.